Computer network and method of operating same to preload content of selected web pages

ABSTRACT

A method for operating a computer network for example a school to preload the content of web addresses on the local memory, i.e. the web cache memory for use in for example a subsequent lesson. The network comprises at least one device, a web cache memory, and internet access apparatus to connect a device on the network to internet using a web browser, relevant devices on the network being accessible to a network administrator and defined network users (teachers and pupils), a method whereby one of said defined network users (teachers) uses a modified web browser to define a set of web addresses (web pages) to be accessed, said set of web addresses being stored in the network, and operates the network to cause the content of the set of web addresses to be stored on said web cache memory, whereby the content may be accessed by the pupils during said lesson via the network without further access to internet. Limits or quotas may be set up for the amount of memory space usable by each user so as to prevent overload of the memory and users may be limited to access web pages defined by one or more preload tasks on the memory at a particular time. Software to allow the method of the invention may be loaded on the web cache.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a computer network and method ofoperating same to preload content of selected web pages. The presentinvention relates to improvements in or relating to HTTP proxy caches orother similar caching mechanisms based on HTTP or other networkprotocols used for retrieval of internet content, hereafter referred toas web cache memories, and methods of operating web cache memories usedin a network of electronic devices, and a method of preloading web cachememories with the content of selected web pages (URLs).

The network comprises a group of electronic devices comprising, forexample, work stations, personal computers, servers, hubs, routers,bridges, switches (hereinafter refer to as “devices” of the network),and links between these devices, which may be in form of physical cableor wireless links. The network may be a local area network (LAN), suchas an Ethernet network, a wide area network (WAN), or other types,including wireless networks and may operate in accordance with anydesired network protocol.

As it is well known, many computer networks include web cache memoriesattached to the internet whereby the content of web pages, which areaccessed from the internet by users of the network, may be storedtemporarily in the web cache memory so that when they are re-accessed bythe same or different user, perhaps a short time later, it is notnecessary to access the internet but the content may be downloadedimmediately to the user from the web cache memory. This reduces theamount of external data traffic on the system and speeds up access.

In some network environments there are particular problems. We willillustrate this by reference to a school or college environment butsimilar problems will be present in other network environments.

In the case of school or college, there may be a limited usable networkcapacity from the network to the internet. Certainly there is, rarely ifever, sufficient usable network capacity to the internet to satisfy arequirement for a large number of pupils to access the internet at thesame time with acceptable latency.

When faced with this situation, one option is to improve the networkcapacity/performance to the internet. This may be prohibitivelyexpensive however. An alternative is to deploy a web cache memory orsimilar device to avoid repeating requests having to traverse thenetwork link. While this helps, the first request made for any web pagewill still suffer the same latency and bandwidth problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A solution to this problem would be for the required web pages to beretrieved and stored on the web cache memory prior to the first request.The retrieval and storage of the web pages may be done automatically outof hours under the control of a scheduled task, thus avoiding the needfor a user to select the web page with a browser such as InternetExplorer or Netscape. Such a retrieval is known as an offline activity.The use of an offline task to retrieve web content and store it on a webcache memory is referred to as a “preload”.

Consider a teacher with a classroom of many students trying to accessthe internet. The teacher will wish to ensure there is no delay from thenetwork. The teacher may also want to limit the web pages the studentscan access to only those to be used for the lesson to avoid studentsmisusing the lesson time.

A web cache memory can be used to restrict access to specific web pagesfor particular sets of users. A preload can be used to ensure there islittle or no delay.

In teaching it is desirable for the pupils to be able to access theinformation which is available on internet but for the teacher to definein some way the web pages which will be used by the pupils for thelesson.

A simple type of preload could be carried out by the teacher giving to anetwork administrator (a network administrator is defined as a personresponsible for administering the network by means of unique passwordsand privileges, to carry out operations on the network which are notallowed to other users of the network) a list of websites, the contentsof which the teacher wishes the pupils to be able to access during aparticular lesson, on a particular day and at a particular time. Thenetwork administrator would at a time convenient to him/her configurethe web cache memory to download the content and store it whereby theteacher and pupils can access the contents of those web pages during thelesson without the need to access the internet.

The network administrator could, in fact, set up the systems so that therelevant content from the websites are automatically downloaded at aconvenient time (i.e. not in real time) but perhaps when the network andinternet are quiet in the middle of the night.

One of the difficulties in this arrangement is that the teacher does nothave direct control of the procedure. For example, sometimes the teacherwill wish to change the websites, perhaps just before the lesson,perhaps by adding or removing some of those websites. In the arrangementdescribed above, this can only be done by the network administrator.

It would be desirable to allow an ordinary user, for example, a teacherin the above example, to define the websites required and to be able tooperate such a procedure without the intervention of the networkadministrator. As the teacher may not be as knowledgeable of the detailsof the network as the network administrator, it is clearly desirablethat such a system should be as user friendly and non-technical aspossible.

Another difficulty is to try to ensure the web cache memory is not fullyconsumed with preloaded web pages. If large numbers of web pages areretrieved and stored, then at any one time the total amount to be storedmay be excessive. This may either prevent retrieval of further webpages, or cause the web cache memory to discard web pages that it haspreloaded. Either result will mean the web pages will not be availablewhen required with no latency as intended.

The present invention provides, according to a first aspect, in acomputer network comprising internet access apparatus to connect thenetwork to internet, a local network memory (e.g. a local web cachememory), a network administrator and other network users (i.e. theteacher in the example above), a method of allowing one of said othernetwork users to define a set of web pages to be accessed and thecontent to be stored on said local memory, whereby the content may beaccessed via the network without further access to internet.

The present invention also provides, in a computer network comprising atleast one device, a local network memory, and internet access apparatusto connect a device on the network to internet using a web browser,relevant devices on the network being accessible to a networkadministrator and other defined network users, a method including thesteps of one of said defined network users operating the network todefine a set of web addresses (web pages) to be accessed,store said set of web addresses in the network,access the internet to download the content of the set of web addresses,store said downloaded content on said local network memory,

whereby the downloaded content may be accessed via the network withoutfurther access to internet.

The invention further provides, in a computer network comprising atleast one device including a device memory, a local network memory, andinternet access apparatus to connect a device on the network to internetusing a web browser, relevant devices on the network being accessible toa network administrator and other defined network users, a methodincluding the steps of

providing on a device a specific toolbar and/or dialog,

entering details of a schedule using said specific toolbar and/ordialog,

accessing internet using browser and searching for the desired webpages,

saving the addresses of selected web pages on said device memory,

exporting the saved addresses to the local network memory,

accessing the web addresses in the saved list and saving the content ofthose web addresses on the local network memory,

allowing one or more other defined network users to access the contentstored on the local network memory without access to internet.

Said method may allow said other users (i.e. teachers) to define the setof websites via a modified web browser. The modification may compriseinstalling in the web browser a further tool bar for use in operatingthe method of the invention. Such an arrangement allows, for example, inthe example given above, a teacher to determine the web pages requiredfor a lesson and to store the list in the web cache memory so that theycan be preloaded by the web cache memory according to a schedule definedby the teacher, and subsequently used in a lesson by a number of pupils.

The use of a web browser tool bar allows simple access and operation ofthe method of the invention without detailed technical knowledge oradministrator access to the web cache memory.

The method includes the steps of defining a point in time at which theweb pages should be available on the web cache memory, which mightinclude a start time, and a finish time. In practice it may be preferredto define the start time and, by means of a pin rule defines the periodof time for which that information is retained on the local memory.

The start time may be set to be late at night, for example, when thenetwork and internet system has a time determined, for example, by thenetwork administrator, which may, for example, be late at night when thenetwork and internet are quiet to access the websites to download therelevant pages of information on to the local memory.

The method may include the step of allowing the user to re-access thelist of web pages comprising the preload task from the web cache memory,and to modify that list of web pages, the schedule for the preload taskor the pin time for the preload task in real time as required. Themethod may allow the user to define a recursion level for each web page.By recursion level we mean, a first recursion level is all of the linkswhich appear on the defined web page, a second recursion level is all ofthe web pages linked to the web pages in the first recursion level etc.

The method may include the step of allowing the user to view the webcontent and/or other details (such as the run time statistics) stored onthe local memory and to modify the web page list in real time, asrequired.

The method may include the step of requiring the user to insertnecessary identification and passwords to allow downloading of the webpages stored on the local memory.

The invention provides according to a further aspect, a computer programwhich may be provided in the form of a disc or other physical medium, orwhich may be downloaded via internet, which provides the steps of themethod of the invention.

The invention provides according to a further aspect, a networkincluding the program as aforesaid.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described by way ofexample only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:—

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a network for use with the invention,

FIG. 2 shows an additional tool bar for use with the invention,

FIG. 3 shows a dialog, that is a picture on the screen of a workstationof the user for use in creating or preloading a task, and

FIG. 4 shows a dialog, that is a picture on the screen of a workstationof the user listing the web pages selected.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a network 10. The network 10includes a web cache memory, 11 which is usually provided with a harddisk drive.

The network includes a workstation 12 for use by the networkadministrator, and workstations 13A-13C for use by other users. Thenetwork of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to an educationalestablishment but is not restricted to that use. Thus, the users usingworkstations 13A-13C may be teachers.

Pupils in a class belonging to the teacher of workstation 13B may useworkstations 13D-13F. The web cache memory 11, workstations 12-13F,switches 14, hubs 15, will be referred to as devices and are connectedby means of links 16, which in the example illustrated are hard-wiredand may utilise any desired network protocol, but which mayalternatively be wireless links.

The network shown is for illustrative purposes only and is diagrammatic.Other configurations and arrangements may be used as will be readilyapparent to one skilled in the art.

Some or all of the workstations includes a visual display unit 17, acentral processing unit 18, a selector which may be in the form of amouse 19, a program store 20, which may be in the form of a CD drive, afloppy disc drive, or a zip drive, and a memory 21 for storing a programwhich may have been loaded from the program store 20 or downloaded, forexample, via internet from a website.

The network 10 may be connected by an external link 22 (a modem to atelephone line or cable line or other networking means includingwireless) to internet 23 and hence to websites 24-33. 24 and 25 arestand-alone websites, 26-29 websites having links to websites 27-29.Website 27 has links to websites 30-32, and website 29 has a link towebsite 33. The websites 26-28 are defined as having a recursion levelof 1 from website 26. The websites 30-33 are defined as having arecursion levels of 2 from website 26.

In a typical application, each of the workstations 12,13A-13G mayinclude (in the form of loaded software) a web browser such as MicrosoftInternet Explorer, or Netscape. The preferred description will relate toa Microsoft Internet Explorer system but potentially the same principleapplies to other web browsers.

In a school, the prior, known, system may operate as follows. A teacherwith access to work station 113B, accesses internet 23 via the web cachememory 11, and using the web browser seeks out web pages, which are ofinterest for a particular lesson. The addresses (the URL addresses) ofthese websites, 24-33, are passed to the network administrator, who,having access to work station 12 is informed and he/she arranges for thecontent of those web pages to be downloaded from internet 23 and storedon the web cache memory 11. As already described this may be done at anyconvenient time up to the time which the teacher requires theinformation for a particular lesson. Essentially each page is stored onthe web cache memory hard disc. In addition the web cache keeps an indexof all the web pages it has on its memory, that is on its associatedhard disc. When a request arrives at the web cache, the web cache scansits index to see if it has the page. If it does, it retrieves it fromits stored version on its disc and returns it to the requesting browser.

During the course of the lesson, the teacher 13B and the pupils withaccess to work stations 13D-13G, have access using their web browsers tothe downloaded content of the web pages 24-33 as stored on the web cachememory 11. Clearly different pupils may be accessing different parts ofthe content and sometimes more than one pupil will be accessing the samecontent and this requires some considerable bandwidth between the webpages 24-33 and the pupils. It would potentially be impractical due tolatency and bandwidth limitations, for all content to be fetched fromthe internet 23 via link 22. By storing the relevant content on the webcache memory 11 it is possible for a large number of pupils to access arestricted number web pages from the web cache memory, at high speed andwithout unacceptable latency.

There are a number of difficulties with such an arrangement. The networkadministrator 12 is key to the process and it would probably be betterif the teacher using workstation 13B could directly access via internet,the relevant pages and organise their preload and storage on the webcache memory 11, download them, or at least organise their downloadingonto the web cache memory 11 without the intervention of the networkadministrator. However, controlling the network to do this has hithertobeen complex and this is why the task is restricted to that of thenetwork administrator.

Furthermore, we will describe a method to control overcomittment of thecache. We will provide “per-user quotas” for web content. The web cachememory has the concept of a user who can define content. In our exampleit is a teacher. For each teacher the network administrator configuresthe web cache memory to define a maximum amount of content (in bytes)that the teacher may have preloaded into the web cache memory at anytime. This is known as the users preload quota. At any time the user hasan amount of web content that has been preloaded and is being stored.This amount is known as the users preload quota usage. As the preloadtask executes and retrieves web pages, the system charges the size ofthe retrieved web pages to the preload quota usage for the user who hasconfigured the preload task. If storing the content would exceed theusers preload quota at the time of retrieval, the web page is not storedin the web cache memory and the preload task terminates with an error.An additional aspect to this is that the web cache memory must keeptrack of when a preloaded web page has been stored in cache for itsguaranteed pin time. When this occurs, the preload quota usage for theuser that caused the web page to be preload is credited with the size ofthe web page. The web page may optionally be discarded by the web cachememory at that time, or may be discarded when the web cache memory mustrecover storage space to bring in new web pages.The network administrator may modify the preload quota for a user at anytime, or may monitor the quota usage for any one or all users defined onthe web cache memory.

According to the preferred embodiment of the invention disclosed herein,the workstation 13B (and also other teacher work stations 13A, 13C)include modifications to their web browsers, which include a new toolbar. Thus in order to organise this, they are supplied with a program ina physical form such as a CD, or floppy disc, or alternativelydownloaded via internet, via the web cache 11 on each of the workstations 13A-13C. The additional tool bar is illustrated in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 shows the information on the top part of the screen of therelevant VDU of the workstations 13A-13C when the teacher has selected“Microsoft Internet Explorer”. The upper tool bar and other features arecommon to the normal version of Microsoft Internet Explorer. Thedifference is provided in the tool bar 50, which includes icons 51-63labelled as follows:—

-   51. “3 Com Preload”-   52. Change Owner-   53. View Exported Jobs-   54. New Job-   55. Open Job From Disc-   56. Save Job-   57. Job Detail-   58. Export Job-   59. (Recursive level) 1-   60. (Recursive level) 2-   61. (Recursive level) 3-   62. (Recursive level) N

Icons 52-55 are used in the task selection and creation, icons 56-58 areused in task control, and icons 59-62 are used to add web pages.

FIG. 3 shows the dialog shown on the screen of the workstation of theteacher when the icon 54 is selected and FIG. 4 shows the dialog shownon the screen of the workstation of the teacher when the icon 57 isselected. The dialog of FIG. 3 has boxes for completion by the user asfollows.

Box 301 for user to enter a user password.

Box 302 for user to enter a name for the preload task.

Box 303 for user to enter the task pin lifetime.

If the preload task requires access to a password protected web site,then the user uses box 304 to enter the relevant username and box 305 toenter a password.

Box 306 for user to enter the number of preload task runs.

Box 307 for user to enter the time of the preload task run.

Box 308 for user to enter frequency of preload task runs (i.e. when itis to be repeated).

In use of the apparatus and program of the invention, a user (e.g. ateacher) will go through a sequence like this to create a new preloadtask and have it executed:

a) Create a new task. Define the name/schedule/pin via the dialog ofFIG. 3.b) Browse the internet to discover web pages he/she wants to preloadwithin this task. Add the web pages via the toolbar buttons.c) View the web pages he/she has added to the task via the dialog ofFIG. 4. Make any corrections.d) Save the preload task to the local hard drive.e) Do something else.f) Reopen the task saved locally and add some more web pages to thetask, by selecting icon 55.g) Save the preload task locally to the hard drive of his/herworkstation (just for safety) by selecting icon 56.h) Export the preload task to the web cache memory by selecting icon 58.This will cause the task to be scheduled. Up until now, the web cachehas been ignorant of the task.i) Wait until the task should have executed.j) View the task log to see if the task succeeded. If it hasn't, fix thetask for the next run. If it has, the content should be ready.

Note that until the task is exported to the web cache memory, the webcache has no information about the task and so it cannot schedule it(i.e. carry out the step of accessing the web pages and downloadingtheir content).

The task is stored locally (on the memory, that is the hard drive of theusers workstation) until it is complete to allow users to make changeswithout storing temporary versions on the web cache memory.

In detail, the teacher (user) may carry out the following steps:—

-   Step 101: Open (by selecting icon displayed on Windows tool bar,    tool bar 50 now displayed)-   Step 102: Is the owner to be changed?-   Step 103: If yes, on toolbar 50 select icon 52.-   Step 104: On dialog enter user ID.-   Step 105: On dialog, enter password.-   Step 106: Is it a new task?-   Step 107: If no, go to an existing job by selecting icon 55-   Step 108: If yes, on toolbar 50, select icon 54.-   Step 109: On dialog of FIG. 3, enter task name.-   Step 110: On dialog of FIG. 3, enter task pin lifetime.-   Step 111: If the preload (task) will require access to a password    protected website, on dialog enter the user name and password the    web cache should provide.-   Step 112: On dialog, enter details of schedule, that is, if the task    is to be run more than once, enter the number of times, the time,    and the frequency.-   Step 113: (Either list a known web page or) Access internet using    browser in normal way and search for web pages desired.-   Step 114: Does user wish to add web page displayed without any    recursive level?-   Step 115: If yes, go to step 124.-   Step 116: Does user wish to add the displayed web pages, at    recursive level 1?-   Step 117: If yes, select icon 59 and go to Step 124-   Step 118: Does user wish to add the displayed web pages, at    recursive level 2?-   Step 119: If yes, select icon 60 and go to Step 124-   Step 120: Does user wish to add the displayed web pages, at    recursive level 3?-   Step 121: If yes, select icon 61 and go to Step 124-   Step 122: Does user wish to add the displayed web pages, at    recursive level N?-   Step 123: If yes, select icon 62 insert value of “N” and go to Step    124-   Step 124: Does user wish to save task?-   Step 125: If yes, select icon 56 and save task to teacher's    workstation memory.-   Step 126: If ok, select icon 58 and Export the task to the web cache    memory (hard disc)

This then saves the completion of the task. The details of the web pageswhich are to be accessed are stored on the web cache memory, and also onthe workstation memory, and subsequently, at a time determined by theteacher, under the control of the information saved on the web cachememory, the web cache automatically accesses the relevant web pages overinternet, and downloads the content of the web pages onto the web cachememory. The web page addresses (URIs) of the content on the web cachememory which is mentioned above, are written to a log file specific tothe preload task that has been executed so that the teacher can readilyaccess the log file when necessary to determine whether the task ransuccessfully.

At a later period of time, typically before the due start of the lessonduring which the information is to be used, the teacher will open thetask from the web cache memory and view the preload task log file toensure the content has been preloaded (and, if necessary carry out anymodifications). Thus, the following two steps are then carried out:

-   Step 127: Does user wish to open task from web cache memory?-   Step 128: If yes, select icon 53 and view contents of the preload    log.

Selecting icon 55 opens the dialog of FIG. 4 on the screen of theworkstation of the teacher.

The teacher can then delete web pages that are no longer required in thepreload task, or that represent broken links, by selecting them. Theteacher can also edit the location of a web page (its URL) or itsrecursion level by double clicking it in the list, or add a new web pageby clicking an Add button on the toolbar. It will be the teacher'sresponsibility to ensure the web pages they enter/modify do exist. Forexample, the teacher may know the address of the web page without havingto search on internet and this may be entered via the browser directlyon to the web cache memory under the relevant task number withoutaccessing the internet.

The above steps relate to the searching for suitable web pages andsaving of the contents of those web pages on to the web cache memory.

We have thus described a method for operating a computer network in, forexample, a school, to preload the content of web addresses on the localmemory. i.e. the web cache memory, for use in for example a subsequentlesson. The network comprises at least one workstation, a web cachememory, and internet access apparatus to connect a device on the networkto internet using a web browser, relevant devices on the network beingaccessible to a network administrator and defined network users(teachers and pupils), a method whereby one of said defined networkusers (teachers) uses a modified web browser to define a set of webaddresses (web pages) to be accessed, said set of web addresses beingstored in the network, and operates the network to cause the content ofthe set of web addresses to be stored on said web cache memory, wherebythe content may be accessed by the pupils during said lesson via thenetwork without further access to internet.

The method and apparatus of the preferred embodiment of the inventionlimits the students' access to only the web pages the teacher requiresfor the lesson. This avoids the students wasting time by just browsingthe internet, rather than performing the tasks assigned to them. Thesystem works by having each student and teacher identified to the webcache memory. As part of defining the preload task, the teacher willidentify a set of students (this may be a class) who will be restrictedto only the web pages that comprise the preload task for a specifiedperiod of time. This will normally be the duration of a lesson (a fewhours at most). When the student accesses the internet for the firsttime within the lesson period, they will be identified by a username andpassword challenge. The web cache memory will then determine if thestudent is only allowed restricted access to a given set of pages from apreload task. If so, and the student strays outside the boundaries ofthat set of web pages, the request will be denied by the web cachememory.Limits or quotas may be set up for the amount of memory space usable byeach user so as to prevent overload of the web cache memory.Thus the method and apparatus of the preferred embodiment of theinvention provides a specific quota or amount of memory space usable byeach user (teacher) for storing web pages. The quotas may be specifiedby the network administrator. The network administrator configures theweb cache memory to define a maximum amount of content (in bytes) that adefined teacher may have preloaded into the web cache memory at anytime. This is known as the users preload quota. At any time the user hasan amount of web content that has been preloaded and is being stored.This amount is known as the users preload quota usage. As the preloadtask executes and retrieves web pages, the system charges the size ofthe retrieved web pages to the preload quota usage for the user who hasconfigured the preload task. If storing the content would exceed theusers preload quota at the time of retrieval, the web page is not storedin the web cache memory and the preload task terminates with an error.

This may be provided by providing the following steps before step 124above.

Step 124 a How many bytes (x) are the web pages to be stored?

Step 124 b How many bytes (y) remain in the users preload quota?

Step 124 c Is y>x?

Step 124 d If yes, go to step 124. If no, provide error message andabort.

Alternatively, the last step may include an algorithm whereby if y isnot larger than x, it searches to see if, at the time defined for thelesson, y will be greater than x (some stale web pages being due to bedeleted before that time) and if it is, works back as far as possiblewhilst y remains greater than x to find a convenient time when the webpages may be accessed and loaded onto the web cache memory.

Software to provide the steps of the method of the invention may beloaded on the web cache and the or each workstation running the webbrowser, and may be provided in the form of a physical medium such as adisc or may be downloaded from a website via the internet.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing example.

1. A computer network comprising at least one device, a local network memory, and internet access apparatus to connect a device on the network to internet using a web browser, relevant devices on the network being accessible to a network administrator and other defined network users, means whereby one of said defined network users may operate the network to define a set of web addresses (web pages) to be accessed, means whereby one of said defined network users may store said set of web addresses in the network, means whereby one of said defined network users may access the internet to download the content of the set of web addresses, means whereby one of said defined network users may store said downloaded content on said local network memory, whereby the downloaded content may be accessed via the network without further access to internet.
 2. In a computer network comprising at least one device, a local network memory, and internet access apparatus to connect a device on the network to internet using a web browser, relevant devices on the network being accessible to a network administrator and other defined network users, a method including the steps of one of said defined network users operating the network to: (a) define a set of web addresses (web pages) to be accessed, (b) store said set of web addresses in the network, (c) access the internet to download the content of the set of web addresses, (d) store said downloaded content on said local network memory, whereby the downloaded content may be accessed via the network without further access to internet.
 3. A method as claimed in claim 2 in which the defining step includes defining the set of web addresses by the use of a modified web browser.
 4. A method as claimed in claim 3 in which some or all of the steps of the method are carried out by the use of a modified web browser which provides a specific tool bar and/or dialog on a visual display unit of a device used by said one defined network user.
 5. A method as claimed in claim 4 including using the specific toolbar and/or dialog to determine the web addresses required and to store the set of web address on the network memory.
 6. A method as claimed in claim 3 including the step of further users accessing the content of those web addresses stored on to the local network memory.
 7. In a computer network comprising at least one device, a local network memory, and internet access apparatus to connect a device on the network to internet using a web browser, relevant devices on the network being accessible to a network administrator and other defined network users, a method including the steps of one of said defined network users operating the network to: (a) define, by use of a modified web browser, a set of web addresses (web pages) to be accessed, (b) store said set of web addresses in the network, (c) access the internet to download the content of the set of web addresses, (d) store said downloaded content on said local network memory, whereby the downloaded content may be accessed via the network without further access to internet, and the step of defining a time at which the content is to be available on the local memory, said definition including a start time, or a start time and a finish time, or a start time and a period thereafter.
 8. A method as claimed in claim 3 including the step of the network administrator defining the time to download the relevant content on to the local memory.
 9. A method as claimed in claim 3 including the step of downloading the content of web pages linked from an initial web address together with the content of that initial web address.
 10. A method as claimed in claim 9 including the step of the user defining a recursion level for each web address.
 11. A method as claimed in claim 3 including the step of the user accessing the web content stored on the local memory and modifying the set of web addresses stored in real time, as required.
 12. A method as claimed in claim 3 including the step of said one of the defined network users providing necessary identification and passwords to limit accessibility to the set of web addresses stored on the local network memory. 13-20. (canceled) 